Recently, there has been a substantial increase in the use of touchscreen displays in connection with electronic devices, such as portable telephones, personal digital assistants, computers, GPS navigation devices, etc. One particularly popular device incorporating a touchscreen display is the iPhone® cellular telephone available from Apple, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. The iPhone® device and many other touchscreen devices do not have a conventional keypad with a plurality of physical keys representing different numbers, letters, commands and the like. Rather, such touchscreen devices have a flat pressure-sensitive screen in which the application of manual pressure to different portions of the screen represents different input signals. Thus, for example, in order to dial a telephone number on a touchscreen display, a virtual image of a numeric keypad will be shown on the display, and pressing the areas overlying a sequence of numbers will cause that number sequence to be input or “dialed.” Similarly, for sending a text message, e-mail or other function requiring the input of letters, a virtual image of an alphanumeric keyboard will be displayed on the screen, and individual letters may be input by applying pressure in the areas overlying each letter. Still other applications may display a virtual input “button” or other indicia for inputting information. In order to continue with the application, the user may apply pressure to the touchscreen directly over one or more of these indicia.
Many consumers are reluctant to use touchscreen products because they prefer the tactile sensation of an actual keypad or other physically present buttons which may be pushed in order to input information into their electronic devices. For this reason, these consumers avoid devices incorporating touchscreens since they do not provide the tactile sensation that consumers are accustomed to.
There therefore exists a need for an apparatus which can provide the virtual keys, buttons or other indicia on touchscreen devices with the tactile feel of physical keys or buttons such that the user is able to tactilely locate the region on a touchscreen to be pressed.